Chapter - 7 ( Rituals and Closeness )

Carina's P.O.V

As I saw that the weird-looking girl was against me for no reason I didn't realize when all of us were called by Samantha towards the holud stage from yesterday we went towards the stage. We all went towards the scene to see who would be tying the Kaleri on her hands, who would be warding off the evil eye, and who she would be tying the rakhi. She called her brother Adam to tie the Kaleri on both hands. It was so cute to see that both of them had tears in their eyes which were about to drop when Samantha said that just a few days ago she got her brother back but now she is going to lose him again! Though I got confused I didn't ask or say anything hearing this both of them started bawling their eyes out when Adam scolded " Stop saying this! Just because you are getting married doesn't mean that you are leaving us. If Akash does something to hurt you or doesn't let you meet with us or your friends tell us! We will make sure he doesn't forgets that you have someone standing behind you to help you!" After this cute little moment, one of the elders said " now either Adam's wife or one of Samantha's sister will ward off the evil eye " Though I didn't know who would be doing the ritual, I assumed the weird-looking girl was Adam's wife as she started walking towards the stage which almost anyone could see but Samantha said, " Carina, could you ward off the evil eye ?"

I was a little bit surprised but then I pointed toward the weird-looking girl and said " Shouldn't Adam's wife do it ?". I didn't know if I said anything funny but an auntie laughed her heart out and said " That girl is not my daughter-in-law. Maddy is a childhood friend of Adam and Samantha and nothing else " Saying this she looked towards Samantha's mother and told her " I have no problem Carina doing the ritual " Though it was a little weird that I was asked to do it but before I could question it Samantha said " You are a reporter for BBC news, The greatest of all but you have no arrogance, you are my inspiration and even after not knowing me you accepted me as your friend and came to my wedding and made me feel like you knew me from my childhood. Not only that you also danced at my wedding on such short notice and helped me gave me advice and even helped me during my breakdowns. You managed to pacify my parents for the things I did. If you aren't my protector then who is? Only you deserve to ward off the evil eye from me!"

Hearing this I couldn't help but feel a little tear in my eyes and blabber " Look who's talking about me being a great reporter when you can yourself give such amazing speeches! " Saying this I went to ward off the evil eye from her. After I did that I looked at the time and saw that I needed to go home very quickly. I looked toward auntie and told her " Auntie, I need to go home like right now! Or else I will be late for the wedding function." saying this I went out and went inside my jeep and saw everyone outside waving toward me and I reversed my jeep and started my journey toward all the commotion and making my family understand everything.

Third P.O.V

As Carina parked and went upstairs, her family understood she came home and were waiting for her to explain everything. The wedding function wouldn't start before 5 o'clock. After hearing everything Carina's parents were a little confused about something but didn't show it to Carina or the others. They had reasoned in mind why the elders agreed but didn't want to agree to it right now. Everyone had lunch and went their own way to get ready. The girls had decided to twin their clothes and the boys too wanted to match with their sisters. The sisters chose a sandalwood-colored Anarkali dress with palazzo to go with it but everyone's shade of the color was different. With the dress, they had gone with a simple long scarf and white flower-like choker with white dangling earrings. For their footwear, they all chose 5-inch heels but only Carina chose 3-inch heels as she thought she was tall enough and didn't need long heels to look tall. The boys wanted to go for a more formal look and went with a 3 piece suit which was a cream color. As everyone was looking dazzling but only Carina had a simple but elegant look which made her look more alluring. As everyone reached the church where the Christian wedding will happen and later there is a mandap where the Hindu-style wedding will happen. Carina thought they were late but according to Xavi, they were fashionably late! As they were taking a seat with their parents, Samantha's cousins came and told all of them to sit with them at the front where all the cousins will sit, and since they were like family they should sit there with them too.

Not long, the ceremony started and everyone was listening to the preacher's sermons. The couples were seated together and their rings were getting exchanged. Followed by the ring-exchanging ceremony, the wedding vows were exchanged too and then couples signed the register too. After that, the I do's were said and the wedding was completed. The guests were going outside and so were the family members.

Carina's P.O.V

As the wedding ceremony comes to an end, everyone including the wedded couple comes out of the church to click some pictures, but at the place where they wanted to take some pictures, my jeep was parked there, so I took out the keys from my salwar pockets. I went inside my jeep and reversed the car while holding the seat beside me. After I came out of my jeep, all the youngsters were looking at me, for a reason I don't know. When I asked, " What happened, why are all of you looking at me like that ?" Samantha replied with a straight face " Akash, Can we break the marriage, I want to marry, Carina !" Where Akash replied " I want to marry her too! " When I had a confused face Samantha's sister explained "At first you were looking gorgeous with this look then your technique to reverse the car made you look so hot and when you came out of the car with a confused face you had the best cute face ever! You are a combo, that's why everyone is admiring you from afar !"

After this, the couple clicked some pictures and the elders went to Samantha's house to prepare for the Hindu-style wedding, where all the youngsters were with the couple. When they finished clicking pictures, I saw Samantha licking her lips and, the growling sound from some of the boy's stomachs didn't go unnoticed by me, so I told them to stay seated there for 5 minutes, I will be back by 2 and took my jeep and went outside. I approached a shop and bought around 5 cases of chocolate drinks,3 cases of water bottles, 1 case of small Pepsi, 1 case of Coca-Cola, 1 case of sprite, and around 60 to 70 packets of chips. I asked the shopkeeper to put everything inside the trunk and started to go toward the church with a content smile as I went inside the church I made sure my trunk was facing toward the church so that I can fulfill my vision.

Seeing my jeep enter the church, my brothers and sisters came outside followed by everyone else. Then I ushered everyone towards me and said in a loud voice " I know many of you are hungry or thirsty, and even just want something sugary so here are some drinks and chips! For having these you have to do only one simple thing! Just pray for a happy future for Samantha and Akash! " Saying this I opened the pocket knife which I brought from my glove compartment and started tearing the plastic wraps from the drinks and I heard loud whispers of " Thank you " and munching from the chips .